The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to management of parking space occupancy and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to coordinated parking space transfer, based on arrival and departure times of vehicles.
Conventional parking meters are widely used to control vehicular parking and to encourage turnover in limited parking areas. These parking meters also provide a substantial source of income to the municipality or other organization using such meters. Some newer meters now provide printed receipts.
Alternatively, a number of municipalities have adopted the use of parking coupons. The coupons have tear out sections which indicate the date and the expiration time of a particular parking period, and the coupons being displayed from inside of the vehicle by wedging the coupon into the upper end of a closed window.
Other municipalities have adopted the use of parking location sensors mounted in, near or on the surface of the parking location. The sensor notifies a central control unit of the presence or absence of a vehicle in the parking location.
Yet other municipalities have adopted the use of a time metering device that is useful as a prepaid in car electronic parking meter card. The device is a unitary electronic card purchased in advance by the user to provide a pre-purchased time period value that may be used as and when desired by the user for parking his vehicle. The card has buttons to select the type of parking zone required, a timer clock showing the amount of purchased time remaining on the card, and switches to start and stop the timer clock. Thus, the user pays for only the actual time that a vehicle occupies a parking space. The card device is displayed within the vehicle during the time the vehicle occupies the parking location.
Another method of monitoring and assessing a fee for parking a vehicle in a toll parking location includes providing indication for a toll parking location and unique indication for a vehicle to be positioned in that parking location. The user notifies a central control unit the location indication, the vehicle unique indication, and the start time of parking the vehicle in the location. Later, the user notifies a central control unit the vehicle unique indication, and the finish time of parking the vehicle in the location. The central control unit then assesses a fee to the user for the duration of time the vehicle occupied the parking location.
Some applications for mobile devices includes monitoring of available parking spaces and of vehicles that are departing a parking space. Some of these applications present a map of these parking spaces to a driver of a vehicle searching for parking.